225 ceived the danger was in some degree passed' that she ventured to express her gratitude.

"You have displayed so much courage, Miss Radcliffe," said Guy Fawkes in answer to her speech, "that it would be unpardonable to deceive you. Our foes are too near us, and too well mounted, to make it by any means certain we shall escape them,-unless by stratagem." "They are within a hundred yards of us," cried Humphrey Chetham, glancing fearfully backwards. "They have possessed themselves of your father's fleetest horses. And, if I mistake not, the rascally pursuivant has secured your favourite barb."

"My gentle Zayda !" exclaimed Viviana. "Then indeed we are lost. She has not a match for speed."

"If she bring her rider to us alone, she will do us good service," observed Guy Fawkes, significantly.

The same notion, almost at the same moment, occurred to the pursuivant. Having witnessed the prowess displayed by Guy Fawkes in his recent attack on the soldiers, he felt no disposition to encounter so formidable an opponent single-handed; and finding that the highmettled barb on which he was mounted, by its superior speed and fiery temper, would inevitably place him in such a dilemma, he prudently resolved to halt, and exchange it for a more manageable steed.

This delay was of great service to the fugitives, and enabled them to get considerably a-head. They had now gained a narrow lane, and tracking it, speedily reached the rocky banks of the Irwell. Galloping along a foot-path which followed the serpentine course of the stream for a quarter of a mile, they arrived at a spot marked by a bed of osiers, where Humphrey Chetham informed them the river was fordable.

Accordingly, they plunged into the water, and while stemming the current, which here ran with great swiftness, and rose up above the saddles, the neighing of a steed was heard from the bank they had quitted. Turning at the sound, Viviana beheld her favourite courser on the summit of a high rock. The soldier to whom Zayda was intrusted had speedily, as the pursuivant foresaw, distanced his companions, and had chosen this elevated position to take sure aim at Guy Fawkes, against whom he was now levelling a caliver. The next moment a bullet struck against his brigandine, but without doing him any injury. The soldier, however, did not escape so lightly. Startled by the discharge, the fiery barb leapt from the precipice into the river, and throwing her rider, who was borne off by the rapid stream, swam after her mistress. She reached the opposite bank just as the others were landing, and at the sound of Viviana's voice stood still, and allowed Humphrey Chetham to lay hold of her bridle. Viviana declaring she was able to mount her, Guy Fawkes, who felt that such an arrangement was most likely to conduce to her safety, and who was, moreover, inclined to view the occurrence as a providential interference in their behalf, immediately assisted her into the saddle.

ac

Before this transfer could be effected, the pursuivant and his attendants had begun to ford the stream. The former had witnessed the cident which had befallen the soldier from a short distance; and, while he affected to deplore it, internally congratulated himself on his prudence and foresight. But he was by no means so well satisfied when he saw how it served to benefit the fugitives. "That unlucky beast!" he exclaimed. prompted me to bring her out of the stable.

"Some fiend must have

Would she had drown

ed herself instead of poor Dickon Duckesbury, whom she hath sent to feed the fishes! With her aid, Miss Radcliffe will doubtless escape. No matter. If I secure Father Oldcorne, and that blackvisaged trooper in the Spanish garb, who, I'll be sworn, is a secret intelligencer of the pope, if not of the devil, I shall be well contented. I'll hang them both on a gibbet higher than Haman's."

And muttering other threats to the same effect, he picked his way to the opposite shore. Long before he reached it, the fugitives had disappeared. But on climbing the bank, he beheld them galloping swiftly across a well-wooded district steeped in moonlight, and spread out before his view, and inflamed by the sight, he shouted to his attendants, and once more started in pursuit.

Cheered by the fortunate incident above related, which, in presenting her with her own steed in a manner so surprising and unexpected, seemed almost to give her assurance of deliverance, Viviana, inspirited by the exercise, felt her strength and spirits rapidly revive. At her side rode Guy Fawkes, who ever and anon cast an anxious look behind, to ascertain the distance of their pursuers, but suffered no exclamation to escape his lips. Indeed, throughout the whole affair, he maintained the reserve which belonged to his sombre and taciturn character, and neither questioned Humphrey Chetham as to where he was leading them, nor proposed any deviation from the route he had apparently chosen. To such remarks as were addressed to him Fawkes answered in monosyllables; and it was only when occasion required, that he volunteered any observation or advice. He seemed to surrender himself to chance. And perhaps, if his bosom could have been examined, it would have been found that he considered himself a mere puppet in the hands of destiny.

In other and calmer seasons, he might have dwelt with rapture on the beautiful and varied country through which they were speeding, and which, from every knoll they mounted, every slope they descended, every glade they threaded, intricacy pierced, or tangled dell tracked, presented new and increasing attractions. This charming district, which has since been formed into a park by the Traffords, from whom it derives its present designation, was at this time,-though part of the domain of that ancient family,-wholly unenclosed. Old Traf ford Hall lies (for it is still in existence,) more than a mile nearer to Manchester, a little to the east of Ordsall Hall; but the modern residence of the family is situated in the midst of the lovely region through which the fugitives were riding.

But, though the charms of the scene, heightened by the gentle medium through which they were viewed, produced little effect upon the iron nature of Guy Fawkes, they were not without influence on his companions, especially Viviana. Soothed by the stillness of all around her, she almost forgot her danger; and surrendering herself to the dreamy enjoyment generally experienced in contemplating such a scene at such an hour, suffered her gaze to wander over the fair woody landscape before her, till it was lost in the distant moonlit wolds.

From the train of thought naturally awakened by this spectacle, she was roused by the shouts of the pursuers; and glancing fearfully behind her, beheld them hurrying swiftly along the valley they had just quitted. From the rapidity with which they were advancing, it was evident they were gaining upon them, and she was about to urge

her courser to greater speed, when Humphrey Chetham laid his hand upon the rein to check her.

"Reserve yourself till we gain the brow of this hill," he remarked; "and then put Zayda to her mettle. We are not far from our destination."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Viviana.

"Where is it?"

"I will show it you presently," he answered.

Arrived at the summit of the high ground, which they had been for some time gradually ascending, the young merchant pointed out a vast boggy tract, about two miles off, in the vale beneath them. "That is our destination," he said.

"Did I not hold it impossible you could trifle with me at such a time as this, Master Chetham, I should say you were jesting," rejoined Viviana. "The place you indicate, unless I mistake you, is Chat Moss, the largest and most dangerous marsh in Lancashire." "You do not mistake me, neither am I jesting, Miss Radcliffe," replied the young merchant, gravely. "Chat Moss is the mark at

which I aim."

"If we are to cross it, we shall need a Will-o'-the-wisp to guide us, and some friendly elf to make firm the ground beneath our steeds," rejoined Viviana, in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Trust to me, and you shall traverse it in safety," said Humphrey Chetham.

"I would sooner trust myself to the pursuivant and his band, than venture upon its treacherous surface," she replied.

"How is this, young sir ?" interposed Guy Fawkes, sternly. "Is it from heedlessness or rashness that you are about to expose us to this new danger?-which, if Miss Radcliffe judges correctly, and my own experience of such places inclines me to think she does so,-is greater than that which now besets us."

"If there is any danger, I shall be the first to encounter it, for I propose to act as guide," returned Humphrey Chetham, in an offended tone. "But the treacherous character of the marsh constitutes our safety. I am acquainted with a narrow path across it, from which the deviation of a foot will bring certain death. If our pursuers attempt to follow us, their destruction is inevitable. Miss Radcliffe may rest assured that I would not needlessly expose so dear a life as hers. But it is our best chance of safety."

"Master Chetham is in the right," observed the priest. "I have heard of the path he describes; and if he can guide us along it, we shall effectually baffle our enemies."

"I cry you mercy, sir," said Viviana. "I did not apprehend your meaning. But I now thankfully resign myself to your care."

"Forward, then," cried the young merchant. And they dashed swiftly down the declivity.

Chat Moss, towards which they were hastening, though now drained, in part cultivated, and traversed by the busiest and most-frequented railroad in England, or the world, was, within the recollection of many of the youngest of the present generation, a dreary and almost impassable waste. Surveyed from the heights of Dunham, whence the writer has often gazed upon it, envying the plover her wing to skim over its broad expanse, it presented, with its black boggy soil, striped like a motley garment, with patches of grey, tawny and dunnish red, a singular and mysterious appearance. Conjecture fixes this morass as the site of a vast forest, whose immemorial and Druid

haunted groves were burnt by the Roman invaders! and seeks to account for its present condition by supposing that the charred trees still frequently found within its depths,-being left where the conflagration had placed them, had choked up its brooks and springs, and so reduced it to a general swamp. Drayton, however, in the following lines from the Faerie Land, places its origin as far back as the Deluge :

-Great Chat Moss at my fall

Lies full of turf and marl, her unctuous mineral;

And blocks as black as pitch, with boring augurs found
There at the General Flood supposed to be drown'd.

But the former hypothesis appears the more probable. A curious. description of Chat Moss, as it appeared at the time of this history, is furnished by Camden, who terms it, "a swampy tract of great extent, a considerable part of which was carried off in the last age by swollen rivers with great danger, whereby the rivers were infected, and great quantities of fish died. Instead thereof is now a valley watered by a stream, and many trees were discovered thrown down, and lying flat, so that one may suppose when the ground lay neglected, and the waste water of brooks was not drained off into the open valleys, or their courses stopped by neglect or desolation, all the lower grounds were turned into swamps, (which we call mosses,) or into pools. If this was the case, no wonder so many trees are found covered, and as it were, buried in such places all over England, but especially here. For the roots being loosened by too excessive wet, they must necessarily fall down and sink in so soft a soil. The people hereabouts search for them with poles and spits, and after marking the place, dig them up, and use them for firing, for they are like torches, equally fit to burn and to give light, which is probably owing to the bituminous earth that surrounds them, whence the common people suppose them firs, though Cæsar denies that there were such trees in Britain."

But, though vast masses of the bog had been carried off by the Irwell and the Mersey, as related by Camden, the general appearance of the waste,-with the exception of the valley and the small stream, was much the same as it continued to our own time. Its surface was more broken and irregular, and black-gaping chasms and pits filled with water and slime as dark-coloured as the turf from which it flowed, pointed out the spots where the swollen and heav ing swamp had burst its bondage. Narrow paths, known only to the poor turf-cutters, and other labourers who dwelt upon its borders, and gathered fuel in the manner above described, intersected it at various points. But as they led in many cases to dangerous and deep gulfs, to dismal quagmires, and fathomless pits; and, moreover, as the slightest departure from the proper track would have whelmed the traveller in an oozy bed, from which, as from a quicksand, he would have vainly striven to extricate himself,-it was never crossed without a guide, except by those familiar with its perilous courses. One painful circumstance connected with the history of Chat Moss remains to be mentioned, namely, that the attempt made to cultivate it by the great historian Roscoe,-an attempt since carried out, as has already been shown, with complete success,-ended in a result ruinous to the fortunes of that highlygifted person, who, up to the period of this luckless undertaking, was as prosperous as he was meritorious.

By this time, the fugitives had approached the confines of the marsh.

An accident, however, had just occurred, which nearly proved fatal to Viviana, and, owing to the delay it occasioned, brought their pursuers into dangerous proximity with them. In fording the Irwell, which, from its devious course, they were again compelled to cross, about a quarter of a mile below Barton, her horse missed its footing, and precipitated her into the rapid current. In another instant, she would have been borne away, if Guy Fawkes had not flung himself into the water, and seized her before she sank. Her affrighted steed, having got out of its depth, began to swim off, and it required the utmost exertion on the part of Humphrey Chetham, embarrassed as he was by the priest, to secure it. In a few minutes, all was set to right, and Viviana was once more placed on the saddle, without having sustained farther inconvenience than was occasioned by her dripping apparel. But those few minutes, as has been just stated, sufficed to bring the pursuivant and his men close upon them; and as they scrambled up the opposite bank, the plunging and shouting behind them told that the latter had entered the stream.

"Yonder is Baysnape," exclaimed Humphrey Chetham, calling Viviana's attention to a ridge of high ground on the borders of the waste. "Below it lies the path by which I propose to enter the moss. We shall speedily be out of the reach of our enemies."

"The marsh, at least, will hide us," answered Viviana, with a shudder. "It is a terrible alternative."

"Fear nothing, dear daughter," observed the priest. "The saints, who have thus marvellously protected us, will continue to watch over us to the end, and will make the path over yon perilous waste as safe as the ground on which we tread."

"I like not the appearance of the sky," observed Guy Fawkes, looking uneasily upwards. "Before we reach the spot you have pointed out, the moon will be obscured. Will it be safe to traverse the moss in the dark?"

"It is our only chance," replied the young merchant, speaking in a low tone, that his answer might not reach Viviana's ears; "and after all, the darkness may be serviceable. Our pursuers are so near, that if it were less gloomy, they might hit upon the right track. It will be a risk to us to proceed, but certain destruction to those who follow. And now let us make what haste we can. Every moment is precious."

The dreary and fast-darkening waste had now opened upon them in all its horrors. Far as the gaze could reach appeared an immense expanse, flat almost as the surface of the ocean, and unmarked, so far as could be discerned in that doubtful light, by any trace of human footstep, or habitation. It was a stern and sombre prospect, and calculated to inspire terror in the stoutest bosom. What effect it produced on Viviana may be easily conjectured. But her nature was brave and enduring, and, though she trembled so violently as scarcely to be able to keep her seat, she gave no utterance to her fears. They were now skirting that part of the morass, since denominated, from the unfortunate speculation already alluded to, "Roscoe's Improvements." This tract was the worst and most dangerous portion of the whole moss. Soft, slabby, and unsubstantial, its treacherous beds scarcely offered secure footing to the heron that alighted on them. The ground shook beneath the fugitives as they hurried past the edge of the groaning and quivering marsh. The plover, scared from its nest, uttered its peculiar and plaintive cry ;